Car headlight maintenance - adjustment and restoration. Guide

If your car's headlights are getting dimmer, check your bulbs and their settings. If that doesn't help, consider regenerating them. We will advise you on the most common headlight malfunctions and how to fix them.

Poor headlight illumination can be caused by burnt out halogen bulbs and incorrect headlight positioning. Therefore, it is worth starting the headlight check with checking the bulbs and their possible replacement, as well as adjusting the headlight settings. The latter can be done at a diagnostic station for about PLN 20. Replacing light bulbs at an authorized service station can cost up to PLN 50 apiece (the more difficult the access, the more expensive), and if xenon headlights are installed on the car, the price of the service is even PLN 100 apiece. However, if changing the bulbs or adjusting the headlights does not help, you need to look at the bulbs themselves.

Car headlights wear out in different ways. Outside, the most common defects are the tarnishing of shades, which, under the influence of changing weather and mechanical factors, lose their luster over time and form a dark coating. Then the headlights work much weaker, and the car loses a lot in aesthetics. In the cabin, the cause of problems may be moisture, which enters, for example, through leaks under the hood.

- This happens, for example, when we wash the car with a high-pressure cleaner and hold the hose too close to the body, directing the water jet under the hood. If it is sucked in through the headlight vents, it will condense over time. This will quickly destroy the aluminum from which the reflectors are made, and one slight reddening of the reflector above the bulb will reduce the efficiency of the reflector by about 80 percent, says Boguslaw Kaprak from PVL Polska in Zabrze, which deals with the repair and restoration of headlights.

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Gentle fogging of the lenses is not a problem and should not cause the driver to doubt, because the lamps are not completely sealed by definition. If this were the case, then the difference in air temperature around the filament (even 300 degrees Celsius) and outside the car (even minus 20-30 degrees Celsius) would lead to delamination of the headlight.

Polishing, varnishing, car headlight glass cleaning

In most cases, headlight failures can be repaired without replacing them. For example, the regeneration of a lampshade consists in getting rid of a dull, oxidized layer with the help of abrasive materials and a special paste. Depending on the degree of wear, the lamp can be polished gently or more vigorously by removing a shallow layer of protective foil from it.

“Then we uncover polycarbonate, which is softer and less weather resistant. But if the car is not exposed to too much sunlight, then nothing should happen to the headlights in two or three years. After a year, they only need to be carefully polished with polishing paste, Kaprak emphasizes.

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Some companies, after polishing, paint the lamp with a colorless layer of varnish. However, this often causes problems because the varnish reacts with the polycarbonate, creating a milky finish that cannot be removed with anything else.

Polishing does not require disassembling the lamp, but experts say that maintenance can be carried out more carefully with the lampshade on the table. Depending on the size of the polished surface, the cost of the service ranges from 70 to 150 PLN. An alternative to polishing is to replace the glass with a new one.

– But these parts are only available for certain vehicles. The largest selection is old models. New cars have sealed headlights, and manufacturers don't produce individual parts for them to sell,” says Paweł Filip from the SZiK car shop in Rzeszów.

For example, for a Volkswagen Golf IV glass costs PLN 19. To install them, you need to break the previous lampshade and carefully clean the edge of the reflector.

– Colorless silicone can be used to seat the new part. However, when buying a replacement, I advise you to pay attention to whether it has an approval, adds Pavel Filip.

Car headlight repair: burned out reflectors

Problems inside the reflector are most often associated with burnt out reflectors. Then the lamp shines very dimly, because the light emitted by the lamp has nothing to reflect off. Usually then it is dark inside the lampshade. Repair consists in dismantling the reflector, disassembling it into parts and applying a new, metallic layer of the reflector.

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– We do this by the so-called vacuum metallization method, which returns the surface to almost factory appearance and properties. In order for the repair to be possible, the lamp must not be previously glued with an unsuitable adhesive. Otherwise, the cover cannot be dismantled and must be reattached to the housing after the process is complete,” says Piotr Vujtowicz from Aquaress in Łódź, which repairs headlights.

Since the reflector must be completely dry after regeneration, the regeneration process takes at least two days. The cost of the service, depending on the workshop, is PLN 90-150.

Headlight mounts and inserts - plastic is weldable

Particularly in wrecked cars, headlight mounting elements are often damaged. Fortunately, many pens are repairable.

- It consists in welding the material. In the case of original parts, this is not a problem, because knowing the composition of the material, you can deal with the problem. The situation is worse with Chinese counterfeit products, which are made from mixtures of unknown composition and often simply cannot be welded, explains Boguslaw Kaprak from PVL Polska.

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But damage and wear to reflectors and lenses is not enough. Modern cars are increasingly equipped with xenon headlights, very often with cornering lights. There are no problems as long as the mechanisms and electronics are working. But when something breaks, the driver has to spend up to several thousand zlotys, because car manufacturers do not sell individual components for lamp repair.

– Bulbs and filaments are replaceable parts, and converters are increasingly disposable. Then, instead of replacing the lamp with a new one, you can repair it using parts from disassembly from decommissioned cars. This also applies to cornering light modules. We provide a three-month warranty for such components,” Kaprak says.

Replacing a swivel module in a middle-class car costs at least PLN 300. This amount is charged for dismantling, disassembling, repairing and gluing the reflector.

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Or maybe a replacement?

Regardless of the defect, many drivers refuse to repair and buy a new lamp. Due to the high prices for originals, Chinese counterparts are usually chosen, or factory headlights, but second-hand. In this case, however, you can never be sure how long they will work properly. A used lamp may be from a salvaged vehicle and have invisible damage. For example, it may leak.

- On the other hand, Chinese substitutes are of poor quality, reflectors often burn out quickly and break from the heat of the light bulb. When looking for used products, you can also find a headlight removed from a car, adapted for driving in the UK. Then the light cannot be adjusted to Polish standards, warns Piotr Vujtowicz.

Governorate Bartosz

photo by Bartosz Guberna